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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Honeycomb Crunch Candy for #SundaySupper

When the theme for this week’s Sunday Supper was announced as Crunchy Goodness, I was in the midst of trying to decide on a flavor for my upcoming BundtaMonth cake where the theme is candy. I was browsing the candy aisle of one of my local grocery store chains, the British import, Waitrose and nothing jumped out at me. If you’ve been reading along for a while, or if you know me personally, you know that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule and they include all things caramel, especially if there is salt involved. And suddenly, the solution came to me! I could combine these two challenges by making crunchy honeycomb candy and then using it in a honey Bundt cake. Win-win, right? And to celebrate my personal triumph of ideas, I headed over to Tavola and bought myself a new Bundt pan. Hey, any excuse for a new Bundt pan! (Come back on 4 October when the cake will be unveiled!)

I researched my cookbooks using Eat Your Booksand trawled through deep internet waters, looking for the perfect honeycomb recipe. I finally settled on this one from Joy the Baker
but since it didn’t have honey, I substituted that for the corn syrup and changed the apple cider vinegar to white balsamic. I decided to double the recipe – unnecessarily, as it turned out – to make sure we’d have enough to munch on and still have plenty for the cake. One batch would have been sufficient. But, working on the theory that one can never have too much honeycomb crunch candy, I have no regrets. Store anything that is not consumed immediately in the freezer or refrigerator, well-sealed, with the layers of candy separated by parchment paper or waxed paper. Unless you live somewhere cold and dry, it gets sticky very quickly at room temperature.

Method
Sift your baking soda into a small bowl and set aside close to the stove.

Prepare a large baking pan by lining it with aluminum foil and buttering the foil liberally. Set aside near the baking soda bowl. If you can’t put a hot pot on your counter top, add a trivet or hot pad nearby (for the candy pot) and another underneath the baking pan.

Mix your sugar, honey, water, cream of tartar and balsamic vinegar in your deep, thick-bottomed pot. Set it on the stove over a medium flame and whisk until all the sugar is dissolved.

Put the candy thermometer in and make sure the tip is in the liquid. Gently swirl the pot every so often as it heats. At one point, mine bubbled up a bit so I stirred with the whisk to settle it down.

You are looking for the thermometer to hit 300°F or 149°C. When it reaches the correct temperature, remove the pot from the stove and set it on the counter or on the trivet or hot pad you have ready.

Remove the thermometer and pour in the baking soda and whisk quickly. This will expand like crazy and suddenly the need for a deep pot becomes violently apparent.

Carefully pour the molten bubbles into your buttered, foil-lined baking pan and leave it to cool and harden.

After mine had cooled somewhat, I transferred it to the deep freezer to speed up the process but that’s just because I am impatient.

When it’s completely cooled and hardened, lift the foil out of the pan and turn the slab of candy over onto a cutting board. Peel back the foil and gently break the honeycomb crunch with a small hammer you have borrowed from your daughter’s toolbox. Just kidding. Any hammer will do.

As previously mentioned, this turns soft and sticky when exposed to air so line a plastic container with parchment or waxed paper and store the candy in the refrigerator or freezer. Many recipes also suggested that dipping the candy in melted chocolate would keep the moisture out as well. If you try that, let me know how it goes.

Save the little crunchy shards too! They will be great to sprinkle on a honey cake!

Enjoy!

Do you love crunchy things? Then this week’s Sunday Supper round up, hosted by Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen, will be your favorite week. I know it’s one of mine.

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter each Sunday. We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET and you do not want to miss out on the fun. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. Check out our #SundaySupper Pinterest board for more fabulous recipes and food photos.

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I have a caramel making fear, not joking! I experienced too many disasters and I always end up with a few burns and pains. I think I need a candy thermometer but I don't think so we can get that here... I ll get somebody to bring me one from EU. =DIn the mean while... would you mind sending me a batch of those? =D

I know what you mean, Helene. Caramel gets so hot and burns so easily but this was comparatively simple. I bought my thermometer in the US but I imagine they have them here in Dubai if you'd like me to look and post you one.

I made this for our #SS culinary bucket list week :). I tested out a couple of recipes until I found (what I thought was) the perfect one (http://www.girlichef.com/2013/01/HomemadeSeafoamCandy.html) ...and now of course I'm craving it again. Looks fantastic, Stacy! :)

I had forgotten that you made this, Heather! I looked back at my comment and I said I loved your growing up story and I ate the same candy as a child but we called it honeycomb. :) Yours looks wonderful but I was determined to create a recipe that actually used honey so it would go with my honey cake. That said, probably any seafoam or honeycomb really would though.

You are absolutely right, but a few recipes I came across called for some honey so I thought, why not all honey instead of the corn syrup? It was worth a try and worked beautifully, much to my delight.

There you go adding another to-do to my list. I'm putting it on my holiday candy list. I'll just have to store it in the fridge until I give it as gifts. The humidity here in Georgia is ridiculous. The candy would get sticky in a flash.

Hahaha... I love that your daughter has a tool box. I feel like such a let-down to the women's movement, I hate doing anything remotely in the 'home maintenance' category. I do the cleaning and leave my husband to use the hammer and drill. I think he's quite happy with the exchange ;) Anyway, back to this gorgeous recipe. Love the look of these candies! I've never made honeycomb but I've always wanted to. Yours looks perfectly crunchy and delicious (dipped in chocolate? That's got my name on it!). I can see that you've used that beautiful material from your daughter as a backdrop again. Love it xx

From the time she was about five years old, she had a tiny toolbox full of real tools, Laura. Screwdrivers, measuring tape, hammer, etc. but her favorite things were her little c-clamps. I used to find them attached to various places about the house that "needed fixing." Over the years, her tools got mixed up with her daddy's and I am not sure what happened to her little box. But it makes me happy to use her hammer, which is a real one, but just smaller, because it reminds me of her helpfulness and of when she was small. Thanks for the kind words about her fabric! I'll pass them on for sure.

As for the honeycomb, if you do make it and dip it in chocolate, I'd love to hear your results!

Cooking for people I love, creating deliciousness out of fresh ingredients, browsing through cookbooks for inspiration, perusing grocery shelves for choice items and writing about my expat life enriched by food. That's what I do here.